Page 91 of Tempting My Mafia Monster

Riley looked over her shoulder at Nolan, waiting for him to work out who I was talking about. He perched on the edge of the bed, resting his elbows on his knees as he looked at me. I still didn’t trust this, or him.

“What did he look like?”

His face appeared in my mind, blubbering, crying, and begging for his life. I killed him quickly just to shut him up. “Brown hair. Beard. He had an M tattooed on his neck.”

Nolan nodded. “Malachi O’Halligan. That was about four months ago. Do you remember anything after that?”

Four months. I’d lost four months. A few other memories filtered through the fog, but I couldn’t be sure where they fitted into the timeline. A puzzle of a horse. Fucking women Sean ‘gifted’ me, and trying not to kill them when they moaned and screamed. I shook my head.

“Will he get his memories back?” Riley asked. The doctor shrugged with an apologetic look.

“Maybe. They may return gradually or in fragments over the next few days or weeks, but certain memories may never return.”

“How can we help recover them?” Nolan asked.

“Stress, familiar locations or faces, or even conversations might help trigger recollections. But, like I said, I’m not a neurologist. I don’t know.” Doctor Lee stepped away from the wall. “He’ll need to rest a lot. Sleep to let his body recover.”

“And what about the Raw Mercy?” Nolan hissed, standing and turning his back on us to face Doctor Lee. “Will he have withdrawals?”

“Yes, unfortunately. It’s best he continues taking a weekly dose, reducing it each time to ease his body off it. It’s been in his system for ten years. He will feel the effects if he goes cold turkey.”

Nolan walked over to the mini-fridge in the corner of the room. He opened it and checked the vials of Raw Mercy inside.

“There’s enough there for a month or so to wean him off it,” Doctor Lee muttered, shifting uneasily from one foot to the other. “I’ve done everything you asked. Please. Let me go now.”

“You have.” Nolan stood up. “All right, you can go.”

Doctor Lee sighed in relief, his shoulders sagging. Before he could react, Nolan drew his gun from the back of his trousers and shot him between the eyes. Riley let out a high-pitched squeal, jumping back against me as I tensed, shielding her from Nolan. The doctor slumped down the wall, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

Nolan glanced at us. He lifted his hands and the gun into the air, walked over to the chest of drawers on the other side of the room, placed the gun on top of it, then walked back. I tracked him the entire time, trying to judge his next move.

“Sorry, mate. I know you would have loved to kill that fucker, but it’s best he didn’t see it coming.”

“We couldn’t let him go,” Riley said with a hint of regret. “It was too risky. He could have run back to Sean and told him everything. We had to keep him alive until you had fully recovered. You’ve been drifting in and out of consciousness for a few days.”

I turned to her, surprised. She smiled at me and slipped out of my grip.

“You can trust Nolan, Maddox. He saved your life.”

I looked at the man with distrustful eyes. “How?”

“Sean put you in a fight against the Italian Mafia. You were meant to kill a man called Santino Buccini. He’d married Arianna, Sean’s niece, and started a war. Sean had sent Connor to Italy to bring Aria back to Ireland, but Santino caught him trying to kidnap his wife. They played a part in Connor’s death.”

My jaw tightened. Buccini. The name tasted like poison. “Did I kill him?”

Nolan licked his lips and sat back on the bed. “Nearly. But you stopped. You went after McKenna instead. You were climbing the gantry when Santino pulled you down. You fell and hit your head on the concrete, suffering a deep scalp laceration that bled heavily. That caused you to pass out and led to a small brain bleed. They thought you were dead. I confirmed it, though you still had a pulse. When the fighting broke out, I used the moment to find Doctor Lee and shove him in the boot of a car. I went back for you and dragged you out of there while they were all distracted. Luckily, Sean was unconscious, so it was easier. If you’d killed Santino, Sean was planning to let you go because he knew the Italians would hunt you down. My plan was to get you to Riley straight after the fight, and we’d all disappear. I have a contact from childhood in Mexico, and from there, Australia. That’s where we were headed. But things didn’t go to plan.”

“Why the fuck would I spare a man who played a part in my brother’s death?” I hissed through clenched teeth. Nolan and Riley exchanged a look that said more than words. My spine straightened.

“I think…” Nolan scratched his head, looking uncomfortable. “You spared him for his sister’s sake.”

I frowned. That didn’t sound like something I’d do. “Sister?”

“Soraya Buccini. McKenna kidnapped her from Italy six weeks ago. She lived with you in your bunker for that entire time.”

I stared at him. That’s impossible. I’d have killed her. I’d have killed anyone in my space, especially a Buccini.

“Nolan said you cared about her, Maddox,” Riley said softly. “A lot.”